Hello, I’m Cllr Natasha Irons, Cabinet member for Local Environment, Green Space and Climate

And I’m here in Merton's brand new community garden to launch our 2022 Merton in Bloom competition.

Merton in Bloom is part of the Royal Horticultural Society's Britain in Bloom gardening competition.

These awards are a great way to acknowledge the efforts of local people who look after their gardens and green spaces,

and make the borough a more green and beautiful place.

There are six categories to choose from, and you can even nominate a local garden or floral feature in the borough that has impressed you!

You could even nominate a Community Garden, just like this one outside Merton Baptist Church

a project which was part-funded by the councils Morden Town Centre Neighbourhood Fund.

And This year, to put Merton back on the London Bloom map,

the Council will also be re-entering the London in Bloom competition

For a full list of categories, and to enter visit:

merton.gov.uk/MertonInBloom

The closing date for entries is 29th July and the winners will be announced in October.

Good luck to everyone taking part and 
I can’t wait to see Merton in bloom this summer.

Merton Council is working collaboratively with Transport for London (TfL) to bring forward the regeneration of the town centre. Our vision is to transform Morden into a vibrant and sustainable destination, which will enable businesses and the local economy to thrive, provide a significant number of new homes and a range of facilities and services for the local community. The regeneration has long been an ambition and priority of the council, with strong support from local residents and businesses, to make Morden a town centre of the future.

The council continues to work with TfL, the Mayor of London and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLUHC) sponsored agency, Homes England to explore and bid for a number of funding opportunities to bring forward the regeneration plans. A review is currently being undertaken of alternative delivery methods and funding options for the town centre, to bring forward the start of the regeneration works.

In December 2021, the council submitted its new Local Plan to the Secretary of State for examination, and officers are exploring the development of a Supplementary Planning Document for the town centre.

A major regeneration of this scale will take some time to develop and deliver. The process has already started with the development of a vision, a set of objectives and key priorities that have been developed through multiple rounds of engagement with the local community.

It is difficult to determine exact timescales at this stage due to a number of factors such as external funding, market conditions, the implications of the Covid 19 pandemic and availability of land. The regeneration is expected to take place in a number of phases over an 8-10 year period. Further details will be shared as they become available.

In 2015, Morden Town Centre was announced as one of the Mayor of London’s Housing Zones, identifying it as one of 30 sites to be brought forward for accelerated housing development and growth. As part of the Housing Zone status, Morden was allocated £42m; however this was not grant funding to the Council, it was a loan facility available only to developers. At the time, the project was in the early stages and did not have a development partner signed up and therefore the funding was not available.

In 2017, the council and TfL supported the GLA in submitting a bid to the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) to unlock housing through the delivery of the Morden Housing Zone. While the bid was well received, it was unsuccessful as the assessment criteria meant that other major national schemes that did not need to assemble land were seen as more favourable for the fund.

In 2018, the council and TfL jointly submitted a bid to the GLA Land Fund. In 2019, it was reported to Merton’s Cabinet that the project had been awarded an in-principle allocation of grant funding from the Mayor’s Land Assembly Fund within the Homes for Londoner’s Land Fund, subject to due diligence and agreed of funding terms and conditions. In March 2020, the council and TfL were advised that although the Mayor is supportive of the plans to regenerate Morden town centre, at the time the GLA was not in a position to support the project financially, following the completion of due diligence. The Mayor’s Land Fund is aimed at bringing land forward for housing quickly across London and funding was allocated to other projects that would deliver much needed housing quicker than the Morden project would be able to, including those that already had planning permission, or where sites had already been cleared.

This is a substantial regeneration project and will take some time to develop and deliver. Securing funding for the scheme is one of the key elements in enabling the council to bring this opportunity to the market and deliver our vision, and we continue to seek the opportunities that are available. We are currently liaising and working with Homes England to explore future funding opportunities for the scheme and these discussions are ongoing.

The proposal for Morden town centre is to deliver circa 2,000 new homes within the regeneration boundary, including 40 per cent affordable housing. The delivery of these homes will go towards the much needed housing that is required in Merton, also helping to address London’s housing crisis.

As of January 2022 Morden functions as a successful town centre, which is well located and has a strong daytime trade. Consultation feedback has constantly highlighted that residents and other town centre users would like to see a greater variety of shops and a night-time economy in Morden. Our vision is to make Morden a destination; we want to support local businesses in providing a varied retail offer to help Morden realise its potential as a great place to live, work and socialise. By enabling the local economy to thrive and provide a range of facilities and services for the community, the regeneration will deliver improved retail, commercial and leisure opportunities. 

Any affected landowners and tenants within the town centre will be continually engaged throughout the design and development process, and officers will be available to discuss the options available to each person. Some preliminary engagement has already taken place as part of the new Local Plan process.

We understand how important it is to listen to the views of local residents, businesses and other users of the town centre, particularly what they would like to see in the future Morden town centre. The regeneration has been an ambition of the council since 2008 and remains a priority. Since that time, there have been a number of public consultations to understand the views and priorities of the local community and these have fed into the development of the vision and objectives of the regeneration.

As detailed designs for the development have not yet been developed, we will continue to engage with the community to ensure that local concerns can be addressed and benefits maximised, where possible. Previous consultation feedback has shown significant local support for improvements to the town centre. Specifically, improvements to the visual amenity of the high street, a better variety of shops, an improved public realm, changes to the bus standing area and the creation of a night-time economy. Public feedback will continue to be part of the regeneration process to help shape the development proposals.

This website provides the most up to date information about the regeneration plans and will continue to be updated as the development progresses to the next stages. You can sign up for our email newsletter updates via the link at this end of this webpage. We will also provide information through the My Merton magazine, local press and leaflets.

If you have any further questions, you can contact our Future Merton regeneration officers via email at more.morden@merton.gov.uk or phone on 020 8545 3837.